KATHMANDU, Sept 5: A day after an audio tape allegedly of conversations between Maoist leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara and an unidentified Chinese man was leaked to media, the Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML have demanded an investigation into the controversial episode to bring the truth before the public.

"The government must conduct an investigation and testing of the voices and make the truth public," reads a statement issued by the NC, Saturday.

In the tape leaked to media on Friday, a voice, allegedly that of Mahara, asks a Chinese official for Rs 500 million for the Maoist party to buy 50 lawmakers to win the prime ministerial election. The NC party said the tape controversy shows the extent of "dangerous conspiracies" being hatched in Nepali politics.

“Anyone who can invest such a huge amount of money in Nepali politics cannot be an ordinary person and that´s what the masses feel,” reads the statement.

The NC said the tape controversy should be linked to the claim made by Chairman of CPN-ML CP Mainali that the Maoists proposed to offer him Rs 50 million for the party´s votes and when he declined, it led to a split in the party.

Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal had also claimed that he would extricate the party from the current mess over the prime ministerial election at any cost.

“The scandal unmasks the real picture of the Maoists who are launching a movement for national self-esteem and castigating others as puppets," the statement added.

The statement, however, said that China as a good neighbor does not interfere in the internal affairs of this country.

“The way the report has been brought out and if true shows the extent of moral erosion in Nepali politics and how powerful countries are turning Nepal into a battleground,” he said.

He said the government and parliament should be serious about the issue and carry out an investigation. “Disowning the tape would not be enough for the Maoists. The party should bring out the truth in public,” he said adding that if the tape proves to be genuine, it will indicate a very grim picture of Nepali politics.

Meanwhile, the Maoists have claimed that it is an attempt at character assassination against the party leaders.

“Such rumors might have been spread by some power centers that don´t want political stability in Nepal,” said Maoist standing committee member Dev Gurung while speaking at a talk program in Kathmandu, Saturday.

Gurung said the election of the prime minister is linked to “nationalism” and claimed that “some elements” conspiring to cause political instability in Nepal might be misusing media against the whole election process. “Maoists are against the dirty games of parliamentary politics. So we don´t have any interest in such shenanigans,” he said.

Similarly, Maoist politburo member Shakti Basnet, who is close to the party establishment faction, stated that the voice in the tape was not that of Mahara. “Why should we go to China to fetch money if the deal was real as the money could have been transferred to Nepal with a flick of the finger?”

Chinese embassy reacts

China always follows non-interference policy, and has never intervened into PM election of Nepal in any form. The slanderous report about China funding UCPN (Maoist) is totally baseless.

Foreign intervention from south has now changed direction... perhaps due to global political climate. The intervention wind is now blowing from north on the laps of the Maoists whose only intention is to capture the state by hook or crook.
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Dr. Jitendra Bajracharya

why i have never heard or seen exact duplication of voice or person? am i lagging behind maoist or their supporter. .... do you know how unreal hollywood animation is and regarding japanese real life human like roberts, there voice is not even close to that of human.

it may not be chinese got. but possibility of involvement of chinese officials.... nepal should ask china to investigate from their side too.

But it is not official Chinese government he is talking to. Maybe some investor who they´ll pay 20% interest once they get to the government? The foreigner guy says he has a friend who wants to help Mahara. Now governments don´t have freinds. The guy may or maynot be Chinese, but one Chinese doesn´t represent China. As for the Mahara´s voice, it can easily be verified using soft
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Ritesh

The headline does not make sense, or media people in Nepal are too doom to raise a question.

Who would the ruling party (UML) and 2nd biggest party, which is also part of the executive branch, DEMAND the probe from?

Now the Nepalese political parties have again got a new topic to indulge themselves in a blame game. It´s really pathetic. Donno why are all these leaders & the followers of course are getting too air head. People are not uniting to follow up the leaders about their commitment and their deeds. Had it been a Hrithik Roshan issue or Iraq issue, people would have personally come out to the street chanting slogans and even burning tyres. Now, when the country is really in need of the same kind
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